A while ago someone (I forget who) posted a question about mathematical proof 
of the inspiration of the Qoran, and wondered if there was any such analysis 
of the Bible.

Since that time, I've come across some interesting ideas which directly bear 
upon it. Most of these come from Edward Hobbs at Wellesley. Their intent is 
to prove the folly of such attempts, so I don't want any angry missives 
about how absurd it is for me to believe them, OK?

The letters of the name Ronald Wilson Reagan can be rearranged to spell 
"Insane Anglo Warlord." This is perhaps a stretch, but once you notice that 
each of his three names have six letters ("and the numbers of his name will 
be 666") it proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Shakespeare actually wrote Psalm 46. The proof this is that his name is 
sometimes written as shak-speare, groupings of 4 and 6 letters. 46! To 
verify this, we turn to Psalm 46 where the 46th word from the front of the 
Psalm is "shake" and the 46th word from the end is "spear."

A book published in the late thirties by a man named Panin ("Amazing New 
Discoveries" -- possible title) claimed to prove biblical inspiration by the 
amazing numbers of times the numbers 3 and 7 came up in arrangements of 
words in the bible. Ernest Colwell then wrote up a parody of this, analysing 
"Gone With The Wind" and proving that it, also, was divinely inspired. Some 
points:

The first sentence has 21 words. (3 sevens)
The second sentence has 28 words (4 sevens)
Together, the first and second sentences have 49 words (7 sevens!)
The third sentence has 3 nouns
The first paragraph has:
   28 nouns (4 sevens)
   7 proper adjectives
   9 adverbs ( 3 threes)

So. When's the canonization of St. Margaret of Atlanta?

Have fun,
Arlen

arlen.p.walker@jci.com
-----------------------------------------------
In God we trust, all others must supply data
-----------------------------------------------

And asking back if he knows where to find the full analysis, I got the folling response (which anybody interested might want to follow up on):

      Do you know where I can get the complete analysis/parody of
      "Gone with the Wind" that you mention in your post? I would love to
      get it. If you look at my page, you know why.

I asked Professor Hobbs if it was about anywhere, and here is his (unedited)
answer:

"The professor was Ernest Cadman Colwell, President of the University of
Chicago (after being Dean of the Divinity School), and later founder of the
Southern California School of Theology at Claremont.  He was one of the
great textual critics of our time (i.e., the mid-20th century!).

He gave a summary of his notes on numerology as interpretive method in  his
1937 book, _The Study of the Bible_ [Univ. of Chicagho Press], pages 102-110
(same pagination in the 1964 Second Edition), esp. 108-110.  His original
article has long since submerged in my library (several thousand books,
tens of thousands of articles, now boxed in the garage of a house too small
to contain a library).  He was my teacher in textual criticism half a century
ago.

He also did a study of Ignatius' Epistle to the Ephesians, with similar
results.

Hope this helps you out."

Like Professor Hobbs, I hope this helps you out with your page. It's possible
the University of Chicago or the Southern Cal School of Theology at Claremont
have the papers in their libraries (possibly available via interlibrary loan).


Have fun,
Arlen

Overview on numerical features in different scriptures
Answering Islam Home Page